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Yvonne Zipp
The plot is light on both deduction and Holmes, but it's pretty charming nonetheless.—The Washington Post
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Posted October 12, 2011
Counted down with her website for its release...started reading and felt I downloaded the wrong book. King is brilliant, but this story had no purpose. Why put Russell on a boat with actors? I have read every Russell novel because the character is smart and has such a wonderful and funny relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Look forward to the next book without pirates.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 12, 2011
I have bought and enjoyed every previous Holmes/Russel novel and looked forward to this one but after reading 2/3 of this book I am about to throw it away. The author warns us in the introduction that this may strain the reader's credulity to the breaking point, but I have been unable to find anything interesting or entertaining in this mish-mash. I hate to think that this series has run out of steam but if future novels wander around a plot-line like this one, I am done.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This novel had me doubled up with laughter multiple times. While most books in this series deal with darker and more serious themes, this one is downright silly at times. Mary Russell, esteemed scholar, detective and wife of the infamous Sherlock Holmes, is willing to do nearly anything to avoid her brother-in-law, including, reluctantly, joining the film crew of one of the most ridiculous productions ever. The motion picture is to be about a film crew making The Pirates of Penzance only to encounter real life pirates. So, of course, the makers of the film based on people making a film about pirates and encountering real pirates, encounter real pirates. Can't you just see the potential in such a plot?
This book featured a rich cast of unique and entertaining characters. Mr. Flytte, the director, is quirky, obsessed and very short. His second cousin, Geoffrey Hale, is the more sensible one. Then there is La Rocha, the piratical Portuguese man they hired to play the Pirate King...but is he really acting? And is he really Portuguese? Also, there is the plethora of blonde girls running around with fake constables and perhaps not so fake pirates. My favorite new character by far was Mr. Pessoa, the poet with multiple personality disorder and many names. He was actually a real poet, so I may have to go find some of his work now...
The story went along at a good pace and there was so much going on that I never knew what was going to happen next, though I did figure out the villain fairly early (or at least one of them). The clues were subtle and well-hidden throughout the plot. I loved the Byron quotes that kept cropping um, much to Russell's irritation. I do wish that Holmes had made more of an appearance in the story, but when he finally joined in the fun truly started. His disguise put his musical talents to very good use, and that is all I am going to tell you.
This book continues Ms. King's tradition of wonderful writing and complex characters and yet still manages to be completely unique. I would recommend it to lovers of mystery, light-hearted farce, pirates, film-making, poetry and...well, there is something in it for everyone. :)
5 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.In 1924 Scotland Yard Inspector Lestrade sends Mary Russell to investigate rumored criminal activity by the Fflytte Film Company. Her husband Sherlock Holmes supports her going to Portugal to keep his wife and his soon to be visiting brother Mycroft from another combative round.
Mary arrives in Lisbon where she obtains a position as an Assistant's assistant on the documentary about The Pirates of Penzance so she can make her inquiries undercover. She detests Gilbert and Sullivan so the chore of working that production is difficult, but so are the day to day operations with so many pratfalls. Holmes joins her as they cross the Mediterranean on the road to Morocco.
As MRH says in the Author's Forward to the latest Russell memoirs (see The God of the Hive): "I fear that the credulity of many readers will be stretched to the breaking point" proves accurate as the exciting story line is over the top of the pirate ship's mast. Holmes arrives late (this is his wife's memoir), but Baker Street fans will enjoy his spouse's Peninsular adventures as this is an entertaining historical with Mary working the Pirate's King caper and dealing with a Gilbert and Sullivan production.
Harriet Klausner
4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 11, 2011
I will need alot of time to get over this one! I usually love her books and can't wait for the next one, but this was awful! I have to go.
3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Grey-Paladin
Posted June 10, 2012
This is a painfully bad entry in an otherwise great series.
Frankly, I skipped over MASSIVE parts of the book, *literally*-- and lost not a bit of the actual story. I read the actual briefing on the problem, then got bored out of my MIND over the next ten pages, and skipped ahead to where Holmes actually entered the story. It says a lot about the book that *I did not lose track of the actual story by doing so!* So, what, around 150 pages? I skipped about 150 pages of *utterly unnecessary dreck!*
I've enjoyed the majority of books in this series immensely (the other failure being, for me, "the Game"), but this? It read like a bad crossover fanfiction of Russell & Holmes with "the Pirates of Penzance." And maybe a bit of "Keystone Kops," too.... If the next entry isn't a significant improvement, I'm not going to continue with the series. Also, there was almost no mystery here at all-- and what there was was solved by NOTHING that either Russell or Holmes did. While I realize the the cover says "a novel of suspense," well... if you aren't bright enough to put an actual *MYSTERY* in a novel involving Sherlock Holmes? You probably have no business writing the character!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 11, 2012
I just could not finish this book. I got about 1/4 through and could not keep interested. There were a couple of good moments but not many and I had to abandon it.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Not nearly as good as her earlier mysteries. Not a lot of Holmes in this one and really not much of a mystery either. Way too much detail on "Hollywood" type film making and little things that really don't matter that much to the mystery. Just didn't care for this book. King's last two have disappointed and I am a big fan of her writing.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 15, 2011
This is a tremendously funny book. While I have always enjoyed all of the Mary Russell books, I don't remember laughing out loud before.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 19, 2012
It was a relief to read the other negative reviews of Pirate King, all echoing my own reaction to this latest Mary Russell novel. I've enjoyed all the other books in the series, but this one represents a surprising departure in quality. Was there no one involved in the editorial process to remark upon the deficiencies so obvious to more than half Ms. King's readers on this site alone?
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 20, 2012
I think Laurie King is a fabulous writer and have read and enjoyed every book in the Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes series: Unfortunately I can't say the same for Pirate King. The writing is not up to Ms. King's caliber, the story line drags and at times is silly. While some of the characters are entertaining most of them are not. I could not finish the book it was so bad and when I read the last chapter to find out how it ended I'm sure my neighbors heard me exclaim "Is she for real?" Sorry, Ms. King, but even your loyal readers ( like me) should not waste the time or money on this book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 16, 2012
Being a fan of Laurie King's Sherlock & Mary Russell series, I was disappointed in this one. The first half of the book is minutia and fluff -- no action, no crime. Yes, finally a crime is attempted near the end, and there is a little action. Oh hum.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 29, 2012
What happened to the Laurie King I love so well? I have ALL her books- even signed copies I drove to Santa Cruz to purchase. This one was so awful I forced myself to finish it to be fair. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 22, 2012
I love the banter between Holmes and Russell in previous novels by King so this book was really dissappointing to me. The characters are flat, the storyline is convoluted and there is no spark to Russell's discriptions of movie moguls, actors, pirates or travel in this memoir. It took me weeks to finish instead of the usual two or three days. I wish I had given up on it half way.
If you are determined to try it, don't waste your money, check it out from a library first. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for better storylines involving Holmes and Russell in the future.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 17, 2011
I waited so long to read this that I was very disapointed almost from the start. It was boring and not at all what I came to expect from the author. Usually the stories are fun and involve Mary and Holmes and they make me want to read more. But I was barely able to finish and only did finish it out of loyalty to the other stories. I hope that Ms King goes back to the previous style of the better novels that she produced in the past. What a waste.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 18, 2011
I have absolutely loved all of her previous books, and was so looking forward to this book only to be completely let down. The characters are under developed,the plot dull and lacking in real content, and the dialogue stunted. I ended up just skimming the first half smply out of boredom. This book does not even feel vaguely related to the rest of the series. I would not advise buying it or even reading it for that matter. If you must, get it from the library.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 9, 2011
I have read all of Laurie R King's Mary Russell Series. This one doesn't disappoint.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 8, 2013
After a novel as strong as GOD OF THE HIVE, which followed many other excellent Russell-Holmes texts, this was a poor, poor encounter for me. Laurie King has a terrific background in religious history, political history, plot construction, etc.--how could something like this have happened!? The lightness of the operetta at its core has infected the novel, and humor is not King's strength. Characters and plot and concerns are uninteresting and frivolous--no serious purpose here. It is a difficult novel to keep reading. I'm hoping that GARMENT OF SHADOWS returns us to the best of this series and its author.
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Posted December 16, 2012
This may be a bit of a clunker, but "Pirate King" is a welcome batch of humor after the intensity of its predecessors (particularly "The Language of Bees" and "The God of the Hive"). The very last paragraph had me laughing for a good ten minutes after I finished.
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Posted November 12, 2012
I think this was either ghost written or just dashed together to meet a deadline. It certainly was not up to the usual standards one expects from this series. I will read the next in the series but if it's no better I will assume that Ms. King has become bored with her subjects.
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Overview
In England’s young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. But rumors of criminal activities swirl around his popular movie studio. At the request of Scotland Yard, Mary Russell travels undercover to the set of Fflytte’s latest cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King. Based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of ...